Malta and Latvia posted the lowest spend on social protection benefits in the EU, a Eurostat survey found.

In 2019, Malta spent some 15 per cent of its GDP on measures offering assistance in connection with sickness, disability, old age, family, children, unemployment, housing and social exclusion.

Malta was found to have the second-lowest social expenditure in 2018, when it spent less than 12 per cent of its GDP on social benefits.

€997.9m spent on social security benefits in 2019

On the lower end of the spectrum, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Hungary followed with a 16 per cent spend while big spenders France, Denmark and Germany shelled out 31 per cent, 30 per cent and 29 per cent of their GDP on social protections, respectively.

The survey found that 40 per cent of Malta’s spend went into sickness, healthcare and disability benefits, the third-highest in the EU, six per cent consisted of family benefits and two per cent on unemployment.

According to the National Statistics Office, Malta spent €997.9 million on social security benefits in 2019, an increase of 3.4 per cent, or €32.7 million, over the previous year.

The two-thirds pension scheme had the largest number of recipients, at 51,258, while the largest share of non-contributory recipients, 42,679, were those who benefited from the children’s allowance.